As soon as she saw Xander and Willow walk into the library, Buffy ran over and threw her arms around her two best friends.

"Thank goodness you're both okay." She whispered, holding them tightly for several minutes.

"Of course we are. Why wouldn't we be?" Willow asked, and Xander swore softly.

"Are you okay? Did something happen after I dropped you off? Did-"

"Xander, I'm fine. Physically at least. Emotionally, it was a hell of a night. He was there."

"Angel?" Willow asked, and Buffy shook her head.

"Angelus. That animal was in my house, talking to my mother. He was in my house!" She growled angrily.

Now that she knew Willow and Xander were safe, she started to feel the hold she had kept on her anger and rage slip. Buffy was furious. That animal that now inhabited the body of someone she had once cared for had been in her house! She felt violated. Her home was supposed to be the one place the monsters weren't allowed in. Except her mother had foolishly allowed the worst of the monsters inside.

"Your mother must have allowed him entry. Foolish, but understandable." Giles said from behind her.

"Not now G-Man." Xander said, putting his hand on Buffy's shoulder and giving it a squeeze.

Willow saw the interaction between her two friends and shoved down at the pangs of jealousy she felt. Xander had made it clear he didn't care for her the way she cared for him, and he had never made a secret of his feelings for Buffy. Not that it mattered. The blonde would never return his affections. Or did she? Xander had mentioned that he had dropped Buffy off the previous evening. Could they have been on a date and simply not told her, afraid of how she would take the news? Willow blinked, forcing the thoughts from her mind. The idea was ridiculous.

"Quite right." Giles replied.

"Willow, Giles, I need you two to find a way to keep him out of my house. Find me a spell, a curse, a weapon, I don't care. Just find me something. Xander, any chance soldier guy managed to tell you how to find some more heavy artillery?"

"I might be able to find something. What're you thinking?" Xander asked, and she glared.

"I'm thinking I want to stack the deck as much as I can. When we have our last fight, I want to make sure he dies. Painfully."

"Buffy-"

"You said you were with me Xander. I need you with me."

"I'm with you. You know that." Xander replied, and she nodded.

"We're all with you Buffy. Now I suggest you all get to class. We can begin searching once the day is over." Giles said.

Buffy opened her mouth to argue, but Willow and Xander each grabbed one of her arms and pulled her out of the library.

"What the hell are you two doing?" The Slayer demanded, and Willow winced at her friend's tone.

"Um...Going to class. We do still have school."

"Angelus-"

"Will keep until tonight. Buffy, I know you want to dust that walking corpse and so do I, but we still have to go to class. Otherwise we may attract the attention of that demonic troll known as Principal Snyder. Then he could tell your mom, and you might be really screwed. So let's just go get through the day, and then I promise you we will deal with deadboy."

"Okay. But I want you both armed at all times." She said, pulling two stakes from her back pocket and handing one to each of them.

"Last night Angelus told me that he had Spike and Drusilla watching you. I'm not trying to scare you, but I need you to be on your guard. Just in case."

Willow nodded silently, while Xander just glared. He couldn't lie. There was a part of him that relished the idea of running into one of Angel's lapdogs in the middle of the night. Then he would be able to take something from Angel, just as Angel had taken something from Buffy.

Three hours later, Buffy was ready to scream. She was stuck listening to Mr. Smith drone on and on about the life cycle, and meanwhile Angelus was still out there plotting who knew what!

"Ms. Summers? Am I boring you?"

Buffy bit her tongue, resisting the urge to tell Mr. Smith the truth. Yes, he was boring her with pointless garbage that wouldn't matter if the forces of hell managed to take over. Not that she could tell him that. So instead she bit her tongue, shook her head and tried her best to focus.

It was going to be a long day.

After what felt like an eternity the day finally ended, Buffy all but dragging her friends back to the library.

"Buffy I have spent the day researching and have so far been unable to-"

"Well I brought you a little help. You and Wil get cracking while Xander and I go get the heavy artillery." She said, practically pushing Willow towards Giles. Then she turned Xander around and started marching towards the door.

"Buffy, what about homework?" Willow called, her voice followed shortly by Giles' own protests.

"Not to mention that you must still conduct your usual patrol and-"

"And you need to wake up! Who gives a rat's ass about homework right now?! Do you think Angelus is going to care how high your GPA is? Do you think your blood will taste any better if you have a perfect 4.0?"

"Buffy that's enough." Giles said, and Buffy laughed.

"You're right Giles it is. I've listened to you long enough. You want to talk about usual patrol, but you don't actually do that do you? No, you sit on your ass surrounded by your books while I take all the risk. But that's good. Do what you're best at. While you do that I am going to go get some heavy artillery. Then, I am going to interrogate every vampire I can until I find Angelus and kill him. Do me a favor and try to find something to keep him out of my house, yeah?"

Then she turned and walked out of the library, Xander following closely behind.

"Xander, I can hear the wheels in your brain turning, but whatever you're thinking of saying right now...Don't."

"Or what? You're gonna take my head off too?" He asked, and she glared. Buffy whirled, pinning him against the lockers. Under normal circumstances, Xander would've found this extremely hot. Oh, who was he kidding. It was totally hot. It was also slightly terrifying.

"You said you wanted to be my partner. This is what that looks like. You don't like it, there's the door." She said, pointing back toward the library.

"Buffy, I said I would be by your side. I will always be by your side. I swear to you. Right now though, we need to take five minutes and talk. It's only just after four, and I know for a fact that we cannot get those weapons until after dark. Unless you want to go toe-to-toe with a battalion of soldiers, which I am totally down for by the way."

Buffy took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. She knew Xander was right. Waiting until after dark to get weapons was the right play, even if the idea of fighting a battalion of soldiers was really appealing right now. Besides, the vampires didn't come out until after dark anyway.

"Okay Xan. Let's talk."

Twenty minutes later they were sitting inside a restaurant, the waiter gasping as Buffy ordered three 32oz steaks with baked potatoes and fries. Xander just chuckled, ordering his own slightly smaller steak, baked potato and fries.

"Okay Xander. We've ordered. Now let's get this out of the way so we can go hunting."

"We will go hunting after we eat. I know for a fact you only ate three bites of that chicken sandwich at lunch, and that's only because I threatened to feed you." He said, and she shook her head.

"Point. Now talk, and please don't be like Willow and Giles. I wanted to lose it back there."

"I hate to tell you Buff, but you kinda did. Not that I'm saying you don't have a right to be on edge. Hell, we all are." He said, and Buffy scoffed.

"On edge?! I'm way past on edge Xander. I'm full on over a cliff. The only thing that matters is putting that animal down. Willow, Giles...They don't get it. GPA and normal routines...what the hell does any of that matter? Angelus won't care about any of that unless he can use it to get to me."

"This is about more than last night though isn't it?" He asked gently, covering her hand with his own.

"It's...It's everything! It's the fact that that lunatic was in my house! It's the fact that everybody else in this town thinks everything is just hunky dory while in reality we are literally on the mouth of hell! I'm seventeen Xander, and I've already died. I'm seventeen and...I have been violated. I'm seventeen. I know that I have been short, I get that. But I have to stay focused on the job, and right now, that means doing whatever it takes. It means taking Buffy the friend and putting her in the backseat while Buffy the Slayer puts the pedal to the floor. I...I don't know what else to do." She said, her voice quiet.

"You do exactly what you just did. You talk to someone. You get it all out. Then you do what you have to do, and you know that whatever call you make, I'll back you to the hilt. The truth is, none of us will completely understand what you're dealing with. But we will help you. I will help you."

Their food came, and the two ate in silence, both lost in thought. Buffy was looking at the young man across from her, continuing to be amazed. How was he so good to her? Xander looked at her, wondering how he got so lucky as to be here.

Ten P.M.

The two worked their way through the army base, slipping quietly past the roving patrols. Xander found the munitions room, entering the code he remembered from soldier guy. The door opened, and they walked inside.

"What're you thinking we take?" Buffy asked as she looked at all the weapons. There were pistols, rifles, machine guns, even a few rpg's. Then there were several other weapons locked in boxes.

"It's more like what do we not take? Let's go shopping. It's a blowout sale and everything must go." Xander said with a smile.

A/N: So here is the next chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it! Please drop a review and the next chapter will be up as soon as it's done!